In the sewing and embroidery industry, fabric holding clamps are widely used for holding individual work pieces during the embroidery process. While such holding clamps are been used for many years, one problem has persisted. Since it is necessary for a holding clamp to apply a compressive force to hold a article being embroidered between a pair of clamping windows, mechanism used to apply the clamping force have relatively large and bulky. For this reason, the base or body portions prior art holding clamps generally have a relatively thick profile. This profile thickness of the prior art holding clamps has lead to considerable problems, including substantial damage to embroidery machines. The holding clamps generally are moved in an X-Y plane by a panagraph to move the fabric being embroidered along the appropriate path to achieve the desired embroidery. On occasion, the panagraph will move the base or body portion of the fabric holding clamp in the space between the presser feet and the throat plate. This is particularly problematic during initialization of the panagraph controls, as the panagraph my move the clamp throughout the panagraph's entire X-Y movement Unfortunately, this space generally is less than the profile of the clamp, and the thick profile portion of the fabric clamp may be moved into the presser feet and needles, both of which are relatively fragile. As a consequence of this movement, substantial machine damage results, necessitating expensive repairs and downtime.